Chapter 219: Chapter 190: We Outsiders Chapter 219: Chapter 190: We Outsiders “Have we traveled to a quite formidable nation?” Ash plastered himself against the floor-to-ceiling glass, looking down at the City of Eternal Night below. A dim white jade disk hung in the night sky, strongly proving that they had lost their chance to participate in the live-action adventure trial known as the Blood Moon Judgement.
Tall buildings rose high, neon lights hung in the air, and the automated vehicles on the roads—please forgive Ash’s limited sci-fi vocabulary—were like a tightly programmed collective, maintaining a consistent distance from one another; their speeds were almost uniform, and whenever a car turned off the main road creating a gap, another would quickly take its place. There were no traffic lights or crosswalks; the automated vehicles seemed to possess superior self-management capabilities.
In addition, numerous drones weaved through the night sky. They too were tightly planned, efficiently and swiftly navigating the airspace, capable even of point-to-point service—in just a moment ago, a drone had suddenly entered their room, dropped off a few pairs of underwear, and left directly.
This was because Harvey preferred triangular underwear, Ash liked boxers, and Igula preferred to go without underwear, but they had only been provided with triangular underwear.
Upon hearing their requests, the young housekeeper Banjee had said, “I will fulfill your needs as soon as possible,” but they had not expected it to happen so quickly; fresh underwear had arrived just after they had finished bathing.
It was then that Ash and the others realized the room had a reserved express delivery portal for the drones, just large enough to allow a drone to pass through, but too flat to reach an arm into.
Compared to the grand cityscape, it was the warmth of these inconspicuous architectural and service details that frightened the three foreign workers—had the productive capacity here become so affluent that it could save people the last minute of time spent receiving deliveries?
If Ash had to use one word to describe this city, he could only think of “alive.”
This city was like a living machine, operating efficiently with precise computational ability; everything was fast yet orderly. It was like a master conductor leading an orchestra performance, where every note fit perfectly, without any redundant noise, all so harmonious.
Initially, Ash thought Kaimon City during the Blood Moon was impressive, but compared to the city below him, Kaimon City was at best heavy metal associated with death—and not only did it have an earthy feel, but it also connected to Hell.
Right, although Ash was overlooking the city, he was not in the high floors of a building. Quite the contrary, he was on the lowest level, negative 51st floor.
However, below the floor he stood on was not the foundation, but the rooftop.
Under the rooftop was the surface level city.
An 80-story-tall building faced Ash’s negative 51st level across the void, less than 100 meters away in a straight line. Ash had observed this scene from the car earlier, feeling as if stalactites shaped like drops of water were gazing at one another, or as if the sky was kissing the ground.
This was a crazily trembling fantasy city; the ground level was a normal city, but the second level was an upside-down city—all the buildings were constructed facing downward, and the ground of the second level was actually the highest point.
“I hope their corpse management system is rather lenient…” Harvey, waving his recently healed left arm and lazily sitting in a soft chair with moon candy in his mouth, said, “A civilization that knows how to utilize corpses is a good civilization.”
“No wonder those Red Hats, who seemed to be part of the Security Forces, let us off so easily.”
Igula watched the unmanned drones flitting through the night sky, “Just mount guns and cannons on those machines, and they’ll be enough to encircle and slaughter an ordinary mage legion. The unmanned three-dimensional security system still being researched in the Kingdom of Blood Moon has already become a reality here.”
“Unless they open a Tier 3 or higher gateway to the Great Void Realm and have a Holy Sanctuary Mage personally lead a Hunting Festival, this nation won’t be stirred up by anything.”
“To them, we who come from a Tier 2 Void Realm gateway are just pawns, although also considered evil foreign enemies that must be eradicated, we’re at most the level of cockroaches, not even worthy of being called centipedes.”
Igula couldn’t help feeling a bit resentful at this point, “In such a well-regulated civilized nation, as long as we hide for three days until the countdown disappears, we can surely find a way to become official citizens here, enjoy social welfare, and not be forced to become that woman’s hundred-day slave—”
“The social welfare in the Kingdom of Blood Moon is actually quite comprehensive,” Ash suddenly said, “but you have to implant a chip at the back of your neck. If Blood Moon is willing to waive your punishment, the condition is you must implant the chip again, would you be willing?”
“No way,” Harvey spread his hands, “The research institutions have a monopoly on the corpse industry, and small business owners like me can’t survive. Even if it wasn’t for the jailbreak, I would definitely leave the cannibalistic Blood Moon… Ah, where exactly is my blue ocean of corpses?”
“I don’t like to answer hypothetical questions,” Igula said calmly.
“Although there’s no evidence, I feel that this country might not be as good as we see,” Ash picked up a sandwich biscuit from the snack plate, “If everyone here is really living happily without worries, then why is the Four Pillars God Sect here more prosperous than in Kaimon City?”
“Have you not considered that this might be because there’s a gap in capability that cannot be overlooked between the leaders of the two organizations?” Igula said with disdain.
“Besides, being hired by Hanna isn’t entirely a bad thing,” Ash continued, “Being exploited isn’t scary, what’s scary is having no value to be exploited. Even if, as Banjee, you said, we can slowly integrate from the bottom up into this world, how long will that take? Would the risk cost be very high? Could we, a bunch of penniless outsiders, really establish ourselves in a civilized nation with a complete system? We would probably get chased away from sleeping under bridges because we’re ‘affecting the city’s appearance.'”
“We don’t even know our own racial advantage, but Hanna knows, she not only knows but is also willing to pay the price just for the opportunity to exploit us… Igula, if I uncover a talent of yours in a certain magic faction, and the price is that you have to lick me in every possible way for the next hundred days, would you be willing?”
“As I said, I don’t like answering hypothetical questions,” Igula said coldly, “And I couldn’t pay that kind of price anyway, I’d vomit from severe nausea within three minutes and die of dehydration.”
Although that’s what he said, everyone understood the subtext of what Ash implied—these hundred days were not just for Hanna to use them, but for them to use Hanna as well.
With Hanna, a local guide, to help, not only could Ash and the others quickly integrate into this world, but Hanna would also help to unearth their unknown worth that even they were unaware of.
Even if Hanna took away most or all of their discovered value, at least they would know their unique talents, as if they had received professional training, though at the cost of selling themselves.
“But don’t forget who sold us to the Divine Sect of the Four Pillars as sacrifices.”
Harvey suddenly stretched his left arm, his bones making a crisp sound, seemingly fully healed. The usual hazy laziness was gone from his face, his eyes narrowed slightly, and his dark complexion was filled with the coldness befitting Kaimon City’s number one control master.